Tuesday, 18 November 2008

Kernals Wild Buffalo Wing Popcorn

Walking through malls in Ontario there are three stores that I can always smell walking down the halls: Cinnabon (with its devilish cinnamon rolls), Lush (with its heavily scented soaps and such), and Kernals and its popcornery goodness. Two of these places make my mouth water, the other makes me want to break out in hives (and I'm not allergic to anything). Kernals is a Canadian chain of popcorn stands with many different flavours to choose from.

"Essentially, the magic of the Kernels system is that each and every store (or cart) is a micro-manufacturing facility, producing fresh popcorn, and popcorn related products (Brittles, Paws, Awesome Blossoms, etc. etc. etc ...).Aside from the growing number of in-line and kiosk outlets operating in major retail malls, Kernels has developed the Kernels Extraordinary Popcorn Cart."Kernal's Website

Last week LJ brought me through the mall to show and get me something special: Wild Buffalo Wing flavour at Kernals. Awesome. Is there anything that can't be made into a wing flavour?

There are lots of different sizes of bag, from a small individual to these huge long bags that are like 4 feet tall. We were just going to sample some of the Buffalo, so we went for a medium. But, its 50% off a second bag, so we also got some Cheesy Dill to sample as well.

2008 CHIP SCORE 1.0: Kernals Wild Buffalo Wings Popcorn

STYLE:

Seasoned popcorn

PRICE:

Approx $3 for a small bag (but 50% off of a 2nd bag)

HEAT:

Dry, chili heat. No bite, but can tingle the throat.

SIZE:

Popcorn size

CRISPINESS:

Good crunch

FLAVOUR:

Mexican/Cajun/mesquite like flavour. In a blind taste test I wouldn’t guess buffalo.

VERDICT:

Not bad, but I would stick to the Cheesy Dill.

The dry seasoning on the popcorn was to be a 'Wild' Buffalo Wing. The flavour was sort of a mix of a Mexican/Cajun/Mesquite. It was smokey, with a dry heat that attacked more of the throat that the tongue and the lips.

I enjoyed the taste of the seasoning. But it didn't really taste like Buffalo chicken wings. If I was taking a blind taste test, I would never guess Buffalo wings.

We also got Cheesy Dill. Also part of Kernal's 'Maxiumum' flavours, this was a tasty concept. The two flavours are definitely 'balanced' - I wouldn't describe them as maximum.

FINAL VERDICT: Wild Buffalo Wing flavoured popcorn was a salty, spicy popcorn but didn't really taste like what it was supposed to be. The Cheesy Dill was cheesy, and dilly. But all of it is relatively weak on flavour, but keeps fresh for a long time. Crazy.